Macao casino tycoon Stanley Ho Hung Sun dies aged 98
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Stanley Ho Hong-sun (photo), one of the main players who transformed Macau into the world's top casino hotspot, died at the age of 98 at a hospital in Hong Kong early this morning.
Ho was born in 1921 in British-controlled Hong Kong and began his business career by trading vital goods between his hometown, which was then occupied by Japanese forces, and the neutral Macau.
By establishing a kerosene wholesale company, the entire region benefited from the post-war construction boom, and in 1962 it reportedly used part of its newly established fortune before gaining exclusive rights to all casino gambling operations in Macau.
STDM via SJM Holdings Limited grows into a company with annual revenues of approximately $411.9 million last year through ownership of 22 of the 41 casinos in Macau, including the iconic lotus-shaped casino Grand Lisboa. Although the Hong Kong-listed company is currently just one of six licensed operators in its former Portuguese enclave, it accounted for 14.1% of the local market's total gaming revenue in 2019, including 10.4% of its lucrative VIP business.
Although he is said to have effectively given up on-the-job control about nine years ago after undergoing three brain surgeries after falling from a toilet at his Hong Kong residence, sources detailed the former tycoon's three of his 17 children, Fancy Ho Chiu King, Daisy Ho Chiu Fung and Lawrence Ho Yau Ren, remain important figures as they hold senior positions at Macau casino operators MGM China Holdings Limited, SJM Holdings Limited and Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited, respectively.
With Ina Chan Un Chan and Angela Leong On Kei, it has expanded to two of its four partners currently serving as the executive director of SJM Holdings Limited, SJM Holdings Limited is more responsible through its Estoril-Sol SGPS SA subsidiaries for gambling-friendly venues in the Portuguese communities of Lisbon, Estoril and Poboa de Varzim.
Through Asian exhibitions and acceptance speeches, he declared, "Games should never be a profitable proposition." Fans dancing in racetracks and ballrooms were known as voluntary philanthropists, and they praised the virtues of corporate social responsibility in their speeches.
